Baby-sitter Charged In Boy's Shaking Death

After a seven-month investigation, a 36-year-old Bridgeview woman was charged with first-degree murder Monday in the shaking death of a 10-month-old boy she was baby-sitting, police said Tuesday.

Bond was set at $150,000 in Bridgeview Circuit Court for Lisa Fulla, of 7018 Saratoga Drive, in the death of Ethan Walker of Hickory Hills, said Bridgeview Police Department investigator Tom Sparrow.

Ethan died Feb. 2 in Christ Hospital and Medical Center in Oak Lawn. The Cook County medical examiner ruled the death a homicide due to a brain clot from shaking, Sparrow said.

"The injury was consistent with that of shaken-baby syndrome, but that type of injury is difficult to prove and that's why it took so long," Sparrow said.

Sparrow declined to say if Fulla had made a statement or what evidence during the investigation finally led to charges.

In cases of shaken-baby syndrome, a child is shaken so violently that the head snaps back and forth, rupturing blood vessels and causing slow bleeding inside the skull, medical experts say.

According to police records, a 911 call was received from Fulla's home on Jan. 29. When fire ambulance personnel arrived, they found the baby unresponsive, Sparrow said.

The infant was transported to Christ Hospital, Oak Lawn, where he died. In an autoposy performed Feb. 3, it was determined the boy died of shaken-baby syndrome, according to the medical examiner's office.

In the subsequent investigation by Bridgeview police and the Cook County state's attorney's office, Fulla was charged Monday with first-degree murder, Sparrow said.

In another shaken-baby syndrome case this year, Melanie LoPiccolo, 28, a former secretary and paralegal in the Kane County state's attorney's office, who began baby-sitting in her home, was charged in June with six counts of aggravated battery of a child.

The charges were filed after baby's mother, who is a nurse, noticed her 5-month-old infant had difficulty breathing after picking the child up from the baby-sitter's home, and took him to Sherman Hospital in Elgin.

There, doctors determined the child had been a victim of abuse, and it was determined the baby suffered brain injuries consistent with shaken-baby syndrome.

Fulla had been baby-sitting in her home for about two years, and had been caring for Ethan Walker for about two months, Sparrow said. At the time of his death, she also was caring for two boys who were both about 2 years old, he said.

Fulla's children, a son, 10 and a daughter, 12, have been placed in the custody of the Department of Children and Family Services.

Fulla is scheduled to appear in Bridgeview Circuit Court for a preliminary hearing Oct. 14.